Call us on 01293 601111 or email us at info@rapidata.co.uk
13th
We’re excited to tell you about about the upcoming release of the Artez online fundraising system.
This update is full of new web, social and mobile fundraising features to enhance your online fundraising.
30th
It’s always great to report on what’s new in the Artez Online Fundraising Service released in September 2011 (release 150).
Here are some of the main highlights:
21st
Earlier this month the Rapidata team attended the Institute of Fundraising National Convention. This year’s conference was fantastic – attendee numbers were up, there was a huge variety of vendors at the expo and most importantly the quality and variety of seminars was really impressive. Since we launched our mobile fundraising app at the IoF and because we’re slightly obsessed with our own mobile phones, our team attended a lot of mobile and SMS giving seminars.
It was really interesting to find out how the sector is experimenting with SMS and mobile giving. One of the most common ways of leveraging SMS technology is via text campaigns that don’t include a fundraising ask. The examples given covered everything from asking people to text their support for a campaign to signing a petition, requesting more information, voting and more. Supporters who texted a reply were contacted via phone and asked to sign up as regular monthly donors. Most charities reported a 10% conversion rate from these calls and fairly low acquisition costs.
I think this is a great example of how to combine SMS communications with donor acquisition, but what are charities doing to make that process simpler? Will supporters make a gift via their smartphone if a donation site is sent to them via SMS? Does your charity offer supporters a quick and easy way to give online from their smartphone? How can charities convert more of these supporters to donors – particularly the ones who didn’t answer their phone when called?
In December 2010, a New York based charity called City Harvest tested QR codes on their print ads. When a supporter scanned the QR code with their smartphone they were redirected to a mobile optimised page that gave them 4 options; watch a video about the charity’s work, donate online, donate by phone and learn more about the charity. It’s a great campaign – but they missed a trick! Their donation form was not mobile optimised. It’s hard to use, hard to see and even the branding was vague.
Sadly, not that many charities have mobile friendly pages on their website. In fact, one presenter from the National Convention told us that only 16% of non-profits were planning mobile friendly pages on their website in 2011/12*.
It’s actually pretty easy to convert some key pages on your website to a mobile optimise version – although this does depend heavily on your website platform.
The key pages you should optimise are your donate now page, contact page, what we do/how you can help page, and maybe some video or image to bring your organisation’s role to life.
Rapidata launched mobile optimised donation pages last year to all of our clients. Now whenever a donation page is created on our platform, a mobile friendly version is automatically created too. Now you might be wondering what that looks like – well in a nutshell, the page is styled to fit nicely into a very small screen, the fields are easy to navigate and you don’t have to mess around with lots of extra questions. And we can incorporate PayPal as a payment option alongside all the standard cards (40% of PayPal donations to Red Nose Day were via an iPhone in 2011**). Our mobile donation pages are short, to the point, easy to use and our client’s branding is front and centre as always.
The best part about our mobile donation tool is that you can create multiple donation pages, each with a different look and feel to reflect your campaigns. And you don’t need to manage multiple online giving platforms. All your data is one place allowing you to track donor behaviour, find out who’s giving via their mobile, keep track of gift aid declarations and more.
Is your organisation planning an SMS or mobile giving campaign? Is your organisation planning on leveraging the power of mobile to raise funds? I’d love to hear about it! Please get in touch by leaving a comment below or email abono@rapidata.co.uk.
If you would like more information about mobile giving, please get in touch by emailing info@rapidata.co.uk or call 01293 524066
For more information about the potential of mobile phones for charities and non-profits, please click here to view nfp Synergy’s report.
7th
…It’s all about you!
That’s the tag line for this year’s Institute of Fundraising National Convention 2011 taking place at the start of July.
Rapidata is pleased to be exhibiting and supporting the Convention for our eighth year. With the release of our third annual Charity Direct Debit Tracking Report and our recent iPhone and Android fundraising App, there are lots of new developments to come and see us about! As a Bacs Approved Bureau, we will of course also be on hand to help answer any Direct Debit, Auddis, Unpaid or Paperless Direct Debit questions you may have.
We are also pleased to be one of the few exhibitors signed up to the Institute of Fundraising early bird reward scheme, giving someone the lucky chance to win tea for two at the Ritz!
We will be on STAND 27, so please come and have a chat over a coffee, so we can all share and learn what the latest developments and requirements in fundraising are. If you would like to arrange a one to one meeting during the three days, please drop us a line info@rapidata.co.uk or call us on 01293 524066 and we will schedule it in.
For more information about the Convention, please click on the link below:
http://www.nationalconvention.org.uk/
We look forward to seeing you there.
31st
The Artez Spring release (release 150) is now live. If you haven’t already seen the latest and greatest tools inside your Artez account, then login and check out the updates today.
There are lots of exciting goodies, but we’re especially excited about all the enhanced Facebook Connect and mobile web pages for your runs, walks, rides and campaigns.
What are the new features?
- Upgraded Facebook Connect tools
- Facebook “Like” button on your Artez pages
- Enhanced mobile event and donation pages for Smartphone browsers
- Enhanced E-Card layout options
- New donor management tools for administrators
To see a full list of enhancements, please check your inbox for the latest release notes or login to the Artez Client Resource Centre.
31st
Our support team paid a visit to our friends at Artez Interactive last week. It was a jam packed training session that ran the gamut from Google Analytics to Webservices and Mobile Apps. All in all a fantastic week. Most importantly Daragh got to meet the team who make all the magic happen. Later today we’ll be posting details about the latest Artez release, so watch this space! In the meantime, check out the fantastic group photo below:
20th
Our friends at Artez are offering a great line up of free seminars this Spring.
These fast-paced 30 minute sessions are focused on bringing you ideas and resources to help you become a better fundraiser. Artez’s webinars offer expert interviews, how-to sessions, trends, news, ideas, opinions and much more.
3rd
Good news for Artez platform users! The Snapshot report has had an update – the first of many report related updates that we will be bringing you this summer.
21st
The Rapidata team will be enjoying the beautiful Spring weather over the bank holidays during April and May. Here is a list of our office hours over this period:
Friday, April 22nd – CLOSED
Monday, April 25th – CLOSED
Tuesday, April 26th – 9.00am – 5.30pm
Wednesday, April 27th – 9.00am – 5.30pm
Thursday, April 28th – 9.00am – 5.30pm
Friday, April 29th – CLOSED
Monday, May 2nd – CLOSED
Monday, May 30th – CLOSED
Don’t forget to check the Bacs processing calendar over this period!
12th
Do you have questions about how to make the most out of your online and regular giving programmes? On the 24th May 2011, the Rapidata team will be running a free full day consultation event for clients. Watch this space for more details….
